Mr. Speaker, will the federal government make a commitment that, should there be any transfers for post-secondary education, Quebec will be able to use this money for education as its priorities dictate and with no strings attached?

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada transfers something in the order of about $7 billion in post-secondary education to students and to provinces. There is a division there. There is a significant sum that is transferred directly to the students and therefore does not go through the provinces. The other component is transferred to the provinces. Therefore, I do not see the concern that the hon. member expresses.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 13 months Revenue Canada has completed over 330,000 audits on ordinary Canadians, but on André Ouellet, none. Today the revenue minister trumpeted a taxpayer alert initiative to ensure “a level playing field for all taxpayers”. How ironic.

How level is the field when former Liberal pork master general Ouellet pays himself $2 million in lavish expenses, does not provide receipts and after 13 months still has not been audited? I would like the minister to tell the House and Canadians what other non-Liberal Canadian gets a deal like that.

Mr. Speaker, I am a bit surprised that the hon. member persists in asking me to break the law when it is clearly against the law for me to comment on the audit of Mr. Ouellet. As I have told him before, to do so I would be breaking the law and may end up in jail. Now--

Mr. Speaker, other than the obvious possibility that they are so desperate to have one less vote on this side, and they would like that outcome, my preferred explanation is that they are clearly disdainful of the charter of rights, and that extends to the rule of law in general.

Mr. Speaker, it is public money and it should be a public audit. The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister seems to agree that Liberals are entitled to their entitlements, including Ouellet. He continues to reward Liberals by appointing old cronies to the Senate or ambassadorial positions.

Now he wants to reward David Dingwall with a severance package. It is unbelievable. In the wake of the sponsorship scandal, the Prime Minister pretends to punish Liberals by revoking their party memberships. That is actually a reward, I think, to most Canadians. Will the Prime Minister finally drop the idea of cutting a severance cheque to David Dingwall?

Mr. Speaker, having answered that question many times, I will return to the first question about the new Canada Revenue Agency taxpayer alert. I was glad to have the opportunity to explain this to Canadians this morning. One example is that there are many scams out there for RRSPs and if people are told they can get out of their RRSPs tax free, they should look into it. If people think it is too good to be true, it probably is. This is the kind of information the government is providing to the Canadian taxpayer.

Mr. Speaker, this weekend the Quebec wing of the federal Liberals endorsed private health care. The motion states that “prohibiting private health insurance has not proven to be an infallible means of protecting public health” and that private health insurance for core services should be allowed.

The federal Liberals are the first and only party to endorse such a measure. This demonstrates Liberal hypocrisy. Will the minister agree that the Liberals are promoting a hidden health care agenda?

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that we stand for strengthened public health care. We want to make sure that we end double-dipping by doctors. We want to make sure that we actually put a stop to privatization. In fact, it is ironic that this is coming from the privatizers on the other side, whose current leader has always wanted to gut the Canada Health Act and end the role of Health Canada in health care in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, on the weekend, the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party passed a resolution to allow more room for the private sector in the health system.

Will the Minister of Health attack and condemn the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party, or will he finally admit that the Liberal party has a hidden agenda in favour of private health care, like the Prime Minister uses?

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister said, that is certainly not the policy of the government. The fact is that it is the policy of the opposition, on the other hand, and its members have been saying for years that they want to end the role of the Canada Health Act in health care. They want to end the federal role in health care. They actually want to have nothing to do with public health care and privatize it all.